Malia Knox

Founder of #FemaleFaces4PublicPlaces campaign

‘I am Malia Knox and I am 9 years old. I started to notice that – in every park and playground I visited – there were very few statues, pictures and plaques of women. “Why is it all men and where are all the women?” I said to my mum one day.

‘Upon realising that only 3% of statues in Australia were of women and that there was a total of only 3 statues of women in Brisbane, I started the #FemaleFaces4PublicPlaces campaign. To try and right the imbalance I was seeing around me, I lodged a parliamentary ePetition, attracting just shy of 800 signatures.

‘I have advocated with the Queensland Government to support a review being undertaken of the Queensland Government Framework for Considering Proposals to Establish Memorials and Monuments of Significance to consider how the Framework and its operation are inclusive of women.

‘The future for Queensland women is very exciting as the obstacles and barriers that women had to deal with in the past are going away. With barely any statues, pictures and plaques of women in Queensland, young girls like me don’t have any strong role models to look up to; I can’t be what I can’t see. I will be celebrating all the Queensland women from the past who stood up and fought to make things equal for me and all the other women and girls in Queensland. I have read about the challenges some of these women faced and, even though it was hard, they persevered and kept fighting for what they believed in. I will be celebrating these women.’

Image: AAP and Renae Droop.